Railway-brake.



' No. 687,622. Patented Nov. 26, I9Ul'.

AJBEEN. RAILWAY BRAKE.

(Application filed. my 14, 1901.) (No Mode!) hum-sheet I.

MIMI [w rmrars No. 687,622. Patented Nov. 26, I90].

A. GREEN. RAILWAY BRAKE.

application filed. m 1-1, 1901.

(No Model.)

2Shaats-Sheat 2.

ss1sasa- VA UNITED I STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALFRED GREEN, OF ROCHESTER, YORK, ASSIGNOR TO COMPOUND MAGNET BRAKE COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

RAI LWAY-BRAK E.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 687,622, dated November 26, 1901.

Application filed May 14, 1901. Serial No. 60,169. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ALFRED GREEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Rochester, in the county of Monroe and State of New York, have invented an Improvement in Railway-Brakes, of which the following is a specification.

In some cases an electrically-operated braking mechanism is arranged to be under the control of the same handle by means of which the brakes are applied by hand in the usual way with the electrically-operated mechanism arranged to increase the braking efiort. applied through the same brake-shoes with the hand-operated mechanism.

I11 many electrically operated braking mechanisms there is a range of movement over which the electrically-operated mechanism can travel with a comparatively high efficiency, and for any movement outside of that range the efficiency is comparatively low. When no braking effort is to be applied, itis desirable that the brake-shoes be entirely free from the braking-surfaces, and in braking mechanism as generally constructed there is considerable lost motion. To take up this lost motion and apply the brake -shoes to the braking surfaces requires a considerable movement of the operating mechanism with but comparatively little effort; but from this point on the power necessary to apply the brakes increases with the braking efiort. Owing to conditions resulting from wear and from such other changes as are continually taking place in the relations between the parts of the mechanism of each car the amount of movement of the operating-handle necessary to take up all lost motion and to bring the brake-shoes firmly up against the brakingsurfaces varies from time to time.

The object of my invention then is to provide means for varying as desired the point in the movement of theoperating-handle at which the manually-applied braking eflfort begins and also for varying the range of movement of such operating-handle throughout which the electrically-applied braking effort shall extend and to secure these desired variations by means of mechanism readily adjustable and under the immediate control of the motorman. An especial advantage to be anism actuated by a series of magnets and their armatures arranged to contact successively, so that some one or more of the armature-s are always in a strong magnetic field, or in an arrangement where a solenoid-core is arranged to move over a short space in order to secure the most efficient action. By rendering adjustable the amount of the braking efiort manually applied before the braking effort from the electrically-operated mechanism begins by means of mechanism under the control of the-motorman each motorman may from time to time adjust almost instantaneously the braking mechanism on his car in a way to secure the most efiicient operation of the electrically-applied braking mechanism.

While I have shown in the accompanying drawings my invention as applied to an electrically-operated braking mechanism in which a solenoid is used to apply the braking effort between the shoes and the braking-surfaces, I do not, however, limit myself to such a construction, as my invention is equally applicable, as already above indicated, to all braking systems in which it is desired to apply a braking effort by means of an electrically-operated mechanism and to vary the amount of the braking edort manually applied before the electrically-applied braking effort begins.

The accompanying drawings, illustrating my invent-ion, are as follows:

Figure 1 shows diagrammatically a pair of wheels and their accompanying brake-shoes with such brake-shoes under the control of the ordinary brake-staff, operated by hand, and with connections to such brake-staff and mechanism under the control thereof such that the electrically-operated braking mechanism cooperates with the hand operated braking mechanism and under the control of the same handle in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 shows diagrammatically in plan view the parts seen in Fig. 1, with the parts above the dotted line w y of Fig. l removed. In Figs. 1 and 2 the relation be cceive the usual support.

a g in Fig. 3 being removed.

tween the size of the parts is greatly distorted in order to bring into prominence the more essential features of the invention. There is also in these figures a distortion as to the relative locations of the parts for the same reason. Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical scctional view through the centers of the brakest-atf b and the shafts 1), b and d seen in Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail top view of the parts cooperating between the brakestaif b and shaft 1), all parts above the dotted line Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail top view of the parts carried by tho brake-staff b and shaft 12 all parts above the dotted line as y of Fig. 3, being removed. Fig.6 shows in top View, with the parts above dotted line 00 y of Figs. 1 and 3 removed, the contact-carrying basej with the contacts so arranged that the several actuating-coils of the electrically-operated mechanism may be connected up in series with a 1l16OSi33.l7,Wlll(3h may be gradully on t out,while Fig. 7 shows, in a view similar to Fig. 6, an arrangement of the contactsand connections thereto whereby the several coils of the electrically-operated mechanism may be connected up in parallel and all in series with a resistance, which may be gradually cut out after all such coils are cut into circuit. Fig. 8 is an end view of the contact-brush f and thearm e for carrying the same. Figs. 9 and 10 are diagrammatic views of the circuit connections of the two modifications of my apparatus arranged for the connection of the.

energizing-coils of the electricallyoperated mechanism, respectively, in series and in parallel.

Similar characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

Referring to the drawings, W represents the wheels of a car, and q the brake-shoes carried upon the brake-beam 0 arranged to re- From the center of this brake-beam 0 there extends a link 0 pivoted at its left-hand end to the lever 0 which in turn is pivoted atp in the block a in such a way as to swing horizontally. To

' one end of this lever 0 there is connected a rod 0, which is secured to a solenoid-core n, arranged to work within the solenoid-coil S. There is also pivoted to this same end of the lever 0 a link 0, at the left-hand end of which there is secured a chain c, the other end of which is secured to and arranged to be wound in the usual way upon the lower end of the shaft 19, which may receive the usual support, and is operated through gearing, as will be described, by means of a handle H, as seen at the upper end of the brake-stafi b. Upon this brake-staff Z) there is secured a gear g, meshing with the gear 9, secured upon the shaft 01, which has a hearing at its upper end in an arm a and at its lower end in an arm a, both of which arms may receive any suitable support. (Not shown.) A stop If is provided in the gear g in order to limit the motion in either direction. The brake-staff I? also has rigidly secured thereto, as seen in Fig. 3, the gear which engages the two similar gears g which in turn engage the internal gear 9 rigidly secured to the upper end of the shaft 7), upon the lower end of which the chain c is Wound in the usual manher. The gears are supported upon studs from the gear g which revolves freely on the brake-staff b and is engaged by the gear g, ZI;i gidly secured to the lower end of the shaft by the handle H and carries a notched wheel g which by cooperating with the pawl u locks the shaft 19 in whatever position it may be placed. The brake-staffb is provided with the usual ratchet-wheel 9 by means of which .and the pawl u the brakes may be held in any position to which they have been set. The brake-staff b and shafts Z) and b are supported in any suitable way. (Not shown.) As a result of this mechanism it will be seen that with the handle H locked in any particular position when the brakes are applied the brake-stafi b, by means of gear 9 rigidly scoured thereto, operates the small intermediate gears 9 which for the operation of braking are, in effect, rigidly supported upon studs, as indicated. These gears g in turn operate internal gear g at an increased leverage and also the shaft I), connected with such gear 9 in the opposite direction to the motion of the handle II. When it is desired to compensate for wear of the parts, the wheel 9 is released from the pawl 10, and with the handle I'I held in the desired starting position the handle H in the case shown in the 1 drawings is turned around to the right, as seen from above,until the desired relation of brake shoes q to wheels W is secured, when wheel 9* is again locked by pawl u. The operation of handle H, as described, rotates shaft b in the same direction, and thus rotates gear 9 which is loosely supported on brake-staff I), over to the left, as seen from above. This imparts a rotation to the centers of the gears g over to the left, and hence as gear 9 is held at rest each gear 9 is given a rotation about its own center which is over to the left, and hence together they impart rotation tothe gear 9 and shaft b, which is over to the left or in the direction to wind up the chain con the shaft 1/. The gears g are necessarily of the same diameter and-pitch.

Upon the arm a thereis secured a block I, which, as seen in Fig. 3, forms the support for the iron disk is, to which in turn there is secured the slate basej, carrying the contacts t and 2' and between them the several contacts t" 2' 2' i insulated from each other and from such contacts t and t These contacts 'iand 1' are separated by an insulating-block 1', as indicated in Fig. 6. The shaft d carries an arm e, but insulated therefrom, as indicated, and from which there projects clown- Ward the brushesf and f. The brush f is arranged to bear upon a continuous contactring 1'", while the brush f is arranged to bear This shaft 12 is arranged to be operated successively upon the contacts F, 1", t t 2", and t' as the shaft 01 is rotated over to the left, as seen in Figs. 6 and 2, by a rotation of the handle H in the usual direction for setting the brakes by hand. These several contacts 1', "6, 1' i i and t are secured in the usual way to the slate base j, which in turn is secured to the iron disk It. The contact-ring t is also secured to this slate base j.

In'Figs. 1 and 2 the wheels W are supposed to be the wheels at the right-hand end of the car as seen in such figures, while the wheels at the left-hand end of the car are omitted; The brake-staff b, shafts b and b and mechanism carried by them, the handles H and H, and the series of contacts and their supporting and operating mechanism are all supposed to be duplicated at the right-hand end of the car, together with a chain similar to the one 0 and arranged to be wound upon the brakestaff at the right-hand end of the car, such chain connected with the link 0 provided therefor. A link 0 is also provided to make connection with a brake -beam (not shown) similar to the one 0 and located at the lefthand end of the car, in the same way that the link 0 does with the brake-beam 0 shown in the drawings.

"Refer now to Figs. 1, 2, 6, and 9. B is any suitable source of electricity havingone terminal connected by means of wire 7 with the series of sections of the solenoid-coil S, of whichtheremaybeanydesirednumber. Four are indicated in the drawings. These coils are connected together in series, and from the other terminals of such sections of the solenoid-coil S a wire 5 extends to the rheostat R. t

From the several sections r3, r 7", and r of the rheostat B there extend wires 4, 3, 2, and 1 to the several contacts t", '5 i and i respectively. The other terminal of the battery B is connected by means of wire 6 with contact-ring '6 No connection whatever is made to the contact 2', as it is used only as a bearing-surface to support the brush f when not upon any of the otherv contacts. From the contact 11 connection is made by means of wire 5 directly to the left-hand end of the series of sections of the solenoid-coil S, the arrangement being such, as clearly indicated, that when the brush f is upon contact 6 the solenoid S is not cut into circuit with the source of electric energy E; but when such brush f is upon contact "6 then the solenoid S is cut into its energizing-circuit in series with the several sections r, r, W, and r of the rheostat R, and that as the brushes f and f are moved over to the left, as seen in Fig. 6, so as to bring the brush f successively upon the contacts 46 2' '5', and i, the several sections 7', 7", 7*, and 1' respectively, as in dicated in Fig. 9, are cut out of circuit and in the order named, so that when the brush f is upon contact 1' the solenoid S has impressed thereon the full potential from the source of electric energy B.

In some cases it is desirable that the several sections of the solenoid-coil S should be connected across the terminals of the source of electric energyB in parallel. The arrangement of contacts on the slate base j for producing this result is seen in Fig. 7, while the circuit connections for this arrangement are clearly indicated in Fig. 10. In this case the source of electric energy E is connected by wire 13 to a continuous contact-strip 2' through the sections 1 and r of the rheostat R and to a contact i by Wire 14 through only the section 1" of the rheostat R and connected directly to the contact 01 by wire 12. The several sections 8, s',s and s of the solenoid S have one of their terminals connected in common by means of wire 15 to the source of electric energy E, while the other terminals of these sections 8, s, 8 and s are connected, respectively,by means of wires 11, 10, 9, and 8 to the contacts i t t and i In Fig. 10 only enough of each of the contacts 2' 2' 2' 2' is indicated to show the circuit connections thereto. All these contacts are so arranged, as indicated clearly in Figs. 7 and 10, that by the rotation of the brush-arm 6 over to the left first the section 8 is cut into circuit by the brush f and then the section 8 by the brush f and then the section 8 by the brush f and then the section 3 by the brush f Each section of the solenoid S as it is cut into circuit is retained in circuit as the movement of the brush-arm e over to the left continues. As seen in Fig. 7, the brushes f ,f ,f andf are arranged to bear, respectively, upon the contacts i 2' 2' i while the brush f is arranged to bear upon the contacts 7: and d and the brush f to bear upon the contact e. The rotation of the brush-arm 6 over to the left first, as already described, cuts into circuit the several sections 8 s s" s in parallel with each other, but first in series with the sections r and 1" of the rheostat R. Then the further rotation over to the left of this brush-arm e results in cutting out first the section 0 and then the section 0 of the rheostat R.

The operation of my braking mechanism is as follows: Starting with the several parts in the position indicated in Figs. 1 and 2, rotation over to the right, as seen from above, of the handle H, carrying with it the brakestafi b, serves first to bring the brake-shoes q firmly up against the wheels W in the usual manner, while at the same time the solenoidcore N is forced inward by reason of its connection with the lever 0 so as to be well within the range of efficient operation of the coil S thereon. This action takes place prior to cutting the coil S or any of the sections thereof into operative circuit with the source then serves to cut out the sections 1" r r r successively of the rheostat R, while in that modification shown in Fig. 7 in which the several sections of the solenoid-coils S are connected up in parallel when the brush f bears upon the contact i the section 5 of the solenoid-coil S is cut into circuit, the further movement of the actuating-handle serving to cut into circuit the sections .9 s',and s of the solenoid S and then to cut out succes sively the sections 7* and r of the rheostat R.

In order that the solenoid-coil S may be cut into circuit always at the same point in the operation of the handle H, it is necessary to compensate for wear of the parts, as already described, by adjusting the handle H either in one direction or the other as conditions may require, and thereby also any desired braking effort may be secured by means of the hand-operated mechanism before the solenoid S or any of the sections thereof is out into circuit and the braking effort from the electrically-operated mechanism is applied. By this means I am enabled to take up any amount of lost motion and provide for wear in the operating parts of the braking mechanism to which my invention is applied.

What I claim is 1. In a braking system in combination with an operating-handle by means of-which a braking effort is applied by means of handoperated mechanism, and by means of which also a braking effort is applied by means of electrically-operated mechanism by cutting in the energizing coil or coils of the electric-,

ally-operated braking mechanism at a fixed point in the movement of such handle, means for varying, as desired, the amount of braking effort applied by such hand operated mechanism before cutting in the energizingcoils of the electrically operated braking mechanism.

2. In a braking system in combination with an operating handle by means of which a braking efiort is applied by means of handoperated mechanism, and by means of which also a braking effort is applied by means of electrically-operated mechanism, a second handle and mechanism under the control thereof whereby-the amount of braking effort applied by means of the hand-operated mechanism, when such first handle has reached a given point in its travel, may be varied as de- .sired.

3. In a braking system in combination with an operating-handle by means of which a braking effort is applied by means of handoperated mechanism, and by means of which also a braking effort is applied by means of electrically operated mechanism, a second handle and mechanism under the control thereof whereby the amount of braking effort applied by such hand-operated mechanism, before cutting in the energizing-coils of the electrically operated braking mechanism, may be varied as desired.

4. In a braking system in combination with an operating handle by means of which a braking effort is applied by means of electrically-operated mechanism by cutting in the energizing coil or coils of such electrically-operated braking mechanism at a fixed point in the movement of such handle, a secondhandle and mechanism under the control thereof whereby the amount of movement of the electrically operated mechanism necessary to bring the brake-shoes firmly in contact with the braking-surfaces may be varied as desired.

5. In a braking system in combination with an operating-handle by means of which a braking effort is applied by means of electrically-operated mechanism,a second handle and mechanism under the control thereof whereby the amount of movement of the electricallyoperated mechanism necessary to bring the brake-shoes firmly in contact with the braking-surfaces mav be varied as desired.

ALFRED GREEN.

Witnesses:

GEO. G. MOREHOUSE, W. O. ING-LE. 

